Asteraceae
Sonchus
Sonchus asper

Sonchus asper subsp. glaucescens (Jord.) Ball

First published in J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 16: 548 (1878)
This subspecies is accepted
The native range of this subspecies is Europe to Medit. and Himalaya, Sri Lanka, New Guinea. It is a biennial and grows primarily in the subtropical biome.

Descriptions

Ghazanfar, S. A., Edmondson, J. R. & Hind, D. J. N. (Eds). (2019). Flora of Iraq, Volume 6: Compositae.Kew Publishing

Morphology General Habit
Biennial. Margins and often also ribs of achenes ± densely retrorsely scabrid.
Ecology
Most frequent as a weed of irrigated cultivation, also on a rocky hill, on mountain slope among Quercus, on an alluvial flat by a lake, and by seepage in a wadi, on clay loam, silt, and alluvium, sometimes on slightly saline sand; alt. 5–1250 m;
Phenology
flowering & fruiting: Dec.-Jul.
Distribution
Occasional in the lower mountains, rare in the steppe and desert regions, quite frequent on the irrigated alluvial plain. S & C Europe, Cyprus, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, N Africa (Libya to Morocco), Macaronesia.
[FIQ]

Sources

  • Flora of Iraq

    • Ghazanfar, S. A., Edmondson, J. R. (Eds). (2013-2019). Flora of Iraq, Volumes 5.1, 5.2 and 6.0. Kew Publishing
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • 'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0